The present disclosure generally relates to clinical analysis and medical diagnostics and, in particular, to an apparatus and process for opening/closing fluid containers for containing samples and/or one or more reagents.
In recent years, a strong demand for the automated analysis of liquid samples can be observed primarily due to an ongoing increase in the number of clinical analyses. Sample analysis typically involves combining samples with one or more reagents to determine the absence/presence and, optionally, the concentration of one or more analytes contained therein. Commercially available analyzers typically use pipetting robots for pipetting fluids. Since many reagents have to be cooled and/or prepared (e.g. mixed) before usage, it is convenient to leave the reagents in dedicated reagent containers for cool-storage and, as the case may be, preparation to thereupon withdraw portions thereof if needed. In order to avoid cross-contamination, spilling and evaporation, the reagent containers should be closed after usage.
It is known to use reagent containers comprising a container body with a container opening and a hinged cap pivotable with respect to the container body so as to open or close the container opening, e.g., by manual interaction, according to the specific demands of the user.
Therefore, there is a need to improve the automated process of analyzing samples involving the use of fluid containers with a hinged cap.